A multicentre comparative evaluation: washable pants with an integral pad for light incontinence

The Continence Product Evaluation Network (CPE network) is funded by the Medical Devices Agency (MDA) of the Department of Health, to undertake comparative evaluations of continence products. There are a wide variety of continence products on the UK market and very little information is available to aid product selection. The aim of this study was to evaluate washable pants with integral pads for women with light incontinence. A randomized multiple cross-over design was used. Seventy-two women tested each of the 10 products that were available on the UK market at the time of the evaluation. Both subjective and objective outcome measures were used to evaluate the products. Products performed similarly in terms of leakage but there were statistically significant differences in other performance aspects, e.g. fit and discreteness. This study should be valuable in enabling purchasers, carers and users to make informed decisions when purchasing products.